The Toronto Raptors have room to make a move, and Bruce Brown is one name that fits the moment.
With an open roster spot available no matter how the Kawhi Leonard investigation shakes out, Toronto can keep scanning the market. Brown stands out as one of the more intriguing options still out there. He has already spent time with the Raptors, appearing in 52 games across parts of two seasons from 2024-25, and he’s now available while the market waits on a few other situations to sort themselves out.
Brown just finished playing all 82 games for the Denver Nuggets this past season, but Denver is dealing with Peyton Watson’s restricted free agency and has not yet re-signed him. If the Nuggets decide not to give Watson a contract, Toronto could be interested in stepping in.
The fit is appealing on paper, even if Brown’s first run in Toronto didn’t go the way anyone planned. He arrived as part of the blockbuster deal that sent Pascal Siakam to the Indiana Pacers, then was on the move again so the Raptors could bring in Brandon Ingram. That left Brown in Toronto at a time when the team was not built to win, which was a sharp change from the Nuggets’ 2023 championship run he had just come off of.
There was plenty of chatter that Brown was unhappy in Toronto because his scoring dipped into the single digits after he had been around 11 points per game in Denver. But Brown later addressed that directly with the media.
“Media day they asked me, ‘When did you think about getting to Denver?’ And I said when I got to Toronto, and that wasn’t, like I didn’t want to go to Toronto," Brown said to Raptors sideline reporter Kayla Grey during preseason in 2025.
"I went to Indy. I finally chose where I could go, and three months in, they trade me, and I’m like why the f*** did I go?
“I could have stayed in Denver and been happy. Toronto, I think Toronto’s one of the best cities in the NBA easily.
Like, I loved my time in Toronto. It’s insane.
“So don’t let people on social media, twist my words, because I loved my time in Toronto but it’s just the beast of it,” Brown said.
If Toronto is going to use that 15th roster spot, it needs to matter. Brown checks a lot of boxes: he knows Darko Rajakovic’s system, he brings championship experience, and he has the defensive profile to matter in the right lineup. Pairing him with Jamal Shead, Ja'Kobe Walter, Scottie Barnes and Collin Murray-Boyles could give the Raptors a nasty defensive group, and adding Leonard to that mix would raise the pressure even more.
Brown may not be a flashy solution, but he’s the kind of veteran the Raptors can actually use. If the team wants that last spot to change something, he’s a strong candidate.
In Other News...
Allen Graves Already Feels Built For The Raptors Identity
Allen Graves still has a long way to go before he proves himself in an actual NBA game, but his first run with the Raptors offered enough to get people around the team talking. The recent draft pick turned heads in Las Vegas Summer League with a blend of scoring, rebounding and activity on the defensive end, the kind of performance that tends to travel well in Torontos system. For a franchise that has long valued length, toughness and versatility, Graves already looks like a player who fits the conversation.
Raptors executives and coaches have pointed to his physicality and defensive flexibility as traits that could help him carve out a role, especially with a vacancy left after Sandro Mamukelashvili departed last season. The appeal is obvious: a young big who can do a little of everything and keep possessions alive in ways that matter over the course of a season. What remains to be seen is how quickly Graves can turn a promising summer into something more permanent when the real games begin. [Read more 🡒]